Currently, point-of-sale cash register receipts are printed on a paper tape using inkjet, thermal image or ribbon printers. Numerous patents describe inventions of plastic films to replace these paper tape receipts. The primary focus for many of these inventions is to describe a plastic printer register receipt that is “co-recyclable” with existing plastic shopping bags.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,218 to Dobreski presents a general description of plastic materials for use as a register receipt tape that is claimed to be recyclable. The concepts embodied in the Dobreski patent were continued in U.S. Pat. No. 6,284,177 to Ewing, which similarly provides a somewhat general description of a recyclable plastic register tape. In the Background section, the '177 patent notes that the Dobreski patent, “does not provide sufficient details to select a specific thermoplastic material which is economical, of sufficient strength and which can be reliably fabricated into a printable film.”
U.S. Pat. No. 6,407,034, also to Ewing, discloses a recyclable register tape in which the base sheet materials and thermally printed media are combined prior to production of the film.
The above-described prior art laudably recognizes the benefit of providing a thin, thermoplastic register tape as a replacement for prior paper tapes. Specifically, the current commonly used paper tape ranges in thickness from 2.1 to 2.5 mils. A cash register paper tape roll 3-inches in diameter wound on a ⅞-in. diameter core contains 230 feet of paper register tape. A 3 inch diameter roll of a 0.5 mil thick thermoplastic tape wound on a ⅞ in. diameter core contains 1,077.9 feet of thermoplastic register tape or 4.7 times the length included in a similar diameter paper register tape roll. The thermoplastic tape therefore should provide numerous economies to firms and individuals using cash register printers and receipt printers since the additional tape length available in the thermoplastic tape roll should result in less frequent roll changes at the cash register or receipt printer and less storage space for register tape roll inventory. However, the prior art to date has failed to yield a thermoplastic tape having adequate physical properties to serve as a drop-in replacement for current paper register tapes.